1977
by AwesomePossumSlytherin
Summary: Past, Present, and Future collide when the Harry Potter gang is sent back to the Marauder's Era with a book to try and change the lives of those involved in the Wizarding Wars of the present and the future.
1. Chapter 1

Yes, this is a harry potter characters read Harry potter fanfiction. Yes, i know there a lot of them. But Hopefully mine will be different and will fulfill your harry potter fanfiction needs. This stroy will not just be of them reading but will have an actual plot line (if all goes well :)

Disclaimer- If i were JK Rowling Fred Weasley would have lived, so no i am not her and all characters and places you recongnize belong to her.

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Sirius Black stood cowering behind a large pillar three floors away from the Gryffindor Common room. One of the only things in the world he feared was an angry woman.

He was hanging out with his girlfriend of three days, when he happened to notice another pretty girl and _involuntarily _checked her out. His girlfriend, Desmond, was not very happy with him. Actually she was on a mad hunt for him. He hit his head against the wall. He hated when girls got jealous, it just got in the way of things.

After ten minutes Sirius stepped out of his hiding place assuming he was safe. He jumped when he heard a big crash around the corner. He walked quickly towards the noise and was confused when he saw the back of his best friend, James Potter, with two other people; a tall, pale, ginger boy and a brunette, curly haired girl.

Sirius arched an eyebrow when he distinctly remembered that James was upstairs trying (and failing) to win Lily Evan's heart. Nonetheless he yelled "Oi, Potter!"

The boy turned around and Sirius automatically knew that this was not his best friend, despite how similar they looked. This boy could easily pass as James' twin but he was slightly shorter and there was something eerily familiar about his emerald eyes.

Sirius whipped out his wand and said "Who are you?"

The boy's eyes were wide and Sirius could have sworn him say his name in a very quiet voice. The boy looked at his two friends. The ginger's eyes were just as wide and didn't know what to do. The girl looked between them trying to decide what to do.

"Er, hello." She said awkwardly. "We are-"

She was cut off by a loud crash three feet away from them. Sirius' eyes widened in shock as he tried to take in what was happening in front of him; suddenly there were four more people in the hallway that Sirius had never seen before.

"Fred, George!" The red haired boy said in shock "What are you doing here?"

Two identical boys who also had red hair smirked much in the same way the Marauders did. "George and I needed to get some ingredients for a new product we were working on and we happened to walk into our old room to find you three disappear."

"Then we noticed our sister and Tonks getting ready to do the same thing so we latched onto them and here we are now." The other twin said.

"You do realize how terrified your mother's going to be, right boys?" the pink haired woman said.

"And what about the joke shop?" a girl with vibrant red hair asked.

"I feel like saving the future may be slightly more important than our joke shop." One of the twins said. "Slightly."

"Once again who the bloody hell are you?" Sirius asked.

Tonks spun around and had to hold herself back from giving her favorite cousin a huge hug. She was so glad to see him alive again. She could only hope that they could change the future and save him from the life he would lead otherwise. However she couldn't stop the giant grin that etched itself on her face.

"Why are you all acting as if you know who I am, because I know for a fact that I don't know any of you." Sirius said in a suspicious tone.

"That second part may be true, but we know you." The pink haired woman said in a cheerful voice.

Harry could tell Sirius was about to yell in anger at them so he stepped in.

"My name is Harry Potter and I am from the future."

Sirius gaped in shock while the twins snorted. "Very Subtle Harry." One of them said under their breath.

"Do you think you could come with us to Dumbledore's office?" Harry asked. After seeing the resistant look on his face he added "We really do need you. I promise if you come with us to Dumbledore and still want to curse us then by all means you can."

Sirius thought for a moment before nodding his head and leading the way towards Dumbledore. Sirius did not say anything to any of them for the whole walk. When they reached the stone gargoyles Sirius turned towards them and said "Lemon Drop"

Sirius knew the password due to the many times he had been sent there by McGonagall. The large group all walked up the stairs in anticipation. Sirius knocked on the door and a few seconds later Headmaster Dumbledore opened the door. His eyes widened ever so slightly.

"Mr. Black, may I ask who you have brought up to me?" he asked in a calm voice.

Sirius threw his hands up in the air and sat himself in one of the headmaster's chairs. "I have no idea!"

The boy named Harry Potter stepped forwards from the big group and said "My name is Harry Potter and I am from the year 1996. This note should explain everything."

Dumbledore took the letter and read it quickly. The handwriting was surely his own and it said that these people were here to change the outcome of the Second Wizarding War. They would be put into their respective houses and live life like any other student except they would read two books that foretold the future with selective people. They would live their life here until they finished the books; at this time they would be sent back to their time and hopefully a better world.

"What houses were you all originally in?" Dumbledore asked kindly.

"Gryffindor." Said Harry Potter, the brunette girl and all the red heads.

"Hufflepuff." The pink haired woman said proudly. "But I am 25 and I don't think I can really count as a student anymore."

Dumbledore sat down at his desk and clasped his hands and thought for a moment. "What was your favorite class?"

"Charms!" she said excitedly.

A twinkle appeared in the old man's eyes. "You can be professor Waylight's assistant."

"Who are the selected people to read these books?" he asked next.

"James Potter, Lily Evans, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Regulus Black and Severus Snape." Harry said.

Dumbledore nodded and Harry heard him quietly say "This will be interesting."

"First off, why is Peter not in this group? Second why _is_ my brother? Third and most importantly how the hell am I supposed to sit in a room with Snape that long without cursing him?" Sirius demanded.

Harry shot his young godfather a glare and said "First off, Peter Pettigrew is a traitor!" the brunette shot him a worried look. "Secondly, I have no idea! This was the list of people that came with the books. Thirdly, I don't bloody know! Figure it out!"

Sirius glared back at Harry as Dumbledore broke the tension in the room. "So what are all of your names?"

"Harry Potter."

"When you meet James you will need to tell him that you two must pretend to be cousins." Albus said.

Harry Nodded and Dumbledore moved his gaze towards the brunette. "Hermione Granger." She said.

"I don't believe there are any others in the school with that name, so you should be fine." He said.

"I'm Ron Weasley and those two," he pointed at the twins "Are Fred and George. The girl is Ginny. We're all siblings."

"Your new last name will be Ferry. There are so many Weasley's that it would just be easier to give you a new name altogether."

"The best for last." The pink haired lady said with a smile. "I am Nymphadora Tonks."

Sirius' head snapped up and he said "You're my cousin, and you're a metamorphagus!"

"No I'm not." She said as she changed her hair from bright pink to a vibrant blue that went to her knees. They all laughed, including Sirius.

Dumbledore let out a chuckle and said with a fond smile "Around school your new name will be Dora Gray."

She snorted and said "Aright."

"Lastly, where will you read these books?"

In a second Harry answered "The room of requirement. It's a room located on the seventh floor corridor. It's hidden and so it only appears when you ask it to."

"Very well." Dumbledore said. "Now that everything is sorted out, let's go to dinner. I have been having a craving for some chocolate pudding all day."

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Next chapter the rest of marauders come in along with our favorite potions master. Leave me a review to tell what you thought, your hopes and dreams, whatever :P

Quote of the day: "I would feed myself to Aragog's children for that cup!"- Goyle, from A Very Potter Musical, in reference of the house cup.


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you to the four of you who reviewed! You are Awesome! So this chapter is 16 1/2 pages long. Phew. I tried to get it done quickly, but it's exam week and over the weekend i went to the Starkid Potter Meet and Greet:D So anywho here is the next chapter. Its very serious (No pun intended) and the story isnt funny or anything yet. Lo siento! anyway i made an outling of this story and there should be a sequal yay! Btw there will be some romance! Woot! Lastly, i wanted everyone to know that this story will actaully have a plot to it, beside them reading the story! but that plot will really thicken in the sequal!

Disclaimer- if i was Jk rowling i would not be wasting my time writing fanficiton, i would write a prequel to the series from the Marauders point of view...Anyway i dont own Harry Potter.

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To say that dinner was interesting would be an understatement. Everyone, beside Harry, had never gotten so many weird looks in their lives. Harry was grinning the whole time at his squirming friends. He leaned in towards Ron and Hermione and said "Now you know what it feels like to be famous."

Ron kicked him in the shins causing Harry's grin to be wiped off his face.

Sirius was sitting with the rest of the Marauder's, excluding Peter, telling them that they were all to meet in the seventh floor corridor. James kept shooting very confused glances at Harry. Harry kept resisting looking back, worried to see his parents for the first time.

To everyone from the future's amusement Tonks looked more uncomfortable than all of them. Probably due to the fact that she had tripped on her way to the teachers table, causing Slughorn to drop his glass on Minerva; much to the amusement of the students.

After Dumbledore ate the chocolate pudding he had looked forward to he stood up and announced that there were six new students in the Gryffindor house and that Professor Waylight had a new student teacher.

As Tonks stood up she spilled her water causing the students to laugh. Professor Waylight eyes widened in worry over how clumsy her new student teacher seemed to be. Tonks looked absolutely nothing like she usually did. Her pink hair was now a dull brown that stopped at her chin. She was shorter than usual and just for the fun of it gave herself a very large nose.

At the very end of his speech Dumbledore said "Finally, will Regulus Black and Severus Snape come up here for a moment?"

This was what Harry had decided on. He didn't think it would end well for Sirius to ask Regulus and Snape to come to the Room of Requirement. Somehow Harry saw a fight waiting to happen. He hoped that Dumbledore's presence would reassure the only two Slytherin's of their safety.

Harry and the gang walked up to the room of requirement and arrived there before the Marauders. Snape and Regulus would probably come last because Dumbledore was explaining the situation to them.

Five minutes later the Marauder's came up the stairs. The second they were within talking distance James yelled "Why do you look just like me? I have no cousin named Harry!"

Hermione said "Shush! Wait until everyone is here!"

"James, are you already annoying the new girl like you do me?" a voice said.

Everyone looked up to find a very pretty red headed girl. Hermione noticed her emerald green eyes and automatically knew that this was Harry's mother. She looked at her best friend and gave his arm a sympathetic squeeze. He looked halfway between running into their arms and running away to never have to go through this.

"Lily, I don't really annoy you do I?" James asked pathetically.

She rolled her eyes and stood next to Remus, he being the only marauder with a brain. The next few minutes were very awkward. James was gazing at Lily and Lily was pointedly not looking at him. Harry, having given up the battle going on inside his head, stared back and forth between Lily and James.

Finally Dumbledore came up with the two other members of their group. Severus looked very angry at the group he was going to have to spend the next however long it took to read the books with. Regulus was shooting hopeful glances at Sirius who looked very uncomfortable.

"I want you all to continue to follow school rules, so no cursing each other. Also you must follow curfew because I don't want you all to fall behind in classes. Nymphadora, you will come find me after your done reading so I can show you your room. Boys, you will all have an empty dormitory in the Gryffindor tower. Girls you will stay in Ms .Evans dorm." Dumbledore said before walking off with a wave goodbye and twinkle in his eyes.

Harry walked back in forth in front of the wall thinking, "we need a place to read." three times. To everyone who wasn't from the future's surprise, a door appeared out of thin air. Harry opened the door and said "Come on in."

The people from the future all walked in and were happy to find very comfy looking couches. Reluctantly everyone else came into the room. Lily sat as far from James as possible causing Hermione to smirk. Just wait until they found out that they were sitting with their son.

Sirius broke the silence by saying "How do we know that you really are from the future?"

Everyone in the room nodded and so Harry said "If Dumbledore's opinion isn't enough to you, then here you go. Remus, you are a werewolf."

Remus' jaw dropped open and he said in a quiet voice "How do you kno-"

Harry cut him off and said "Sirius, you are a black dog that looks like a grim when you are an animagus and James is a stag. You three are also all called the Marauders and created the Marauders map. James also owns an invisibility cloak."

James stared at Harry with wide eyes and said "Okay, you are definitely from the future. There is no other way you could know all of this."

Harry Ron and Hermione grinned in relief. "But that still doesn't explain why you look just like me." James said.

Harry stopped grinning and said "You'll find out once we start reading. Any more questions before we start?"

Snape said "Why were we all chosen?"

"I didn't make the list. I know why the Marauders and Lily are here but I have idea why you and Regulus are." Harry said.

Harry gave Hermione a look and so she reached for her bag that she sat on the table. She rummaged around in it before pulling out a book. "This is told from Harry's point of view and it's about his sixth year at Hogwarts."

"How old are you guys?" Lily asked.

"We are just about to enter our sixth year." Ron said indicating himself, Hermione and Harry.

"I'm about to enter my fifth year." Ginny said.

"We are out of school." Fred and George said together.

"And I'm twenty five." Tonks said as she changed her appearance back to normal. Everyone who didn't know she was an animagus had their eyes widen.

Sirius grinned and said "Hey Reggie! You know how Andromeda just had a child?"

Regulus nodded his head and arched an eyebrow. "Well here she is all grown up!"

Regulus looked at her in complete shock and said "You're Nymphadora?"

"Yup" Tonks said with extra emphasis on the 'p'. "But don't ever call me that. Just call me Tonks."

Hermione opened the book to the first chapter and page and said "I'll begin reading first."

Ron rolled his eyes and said "of course she is." Fred and George snickered but stopped when Hermione sent them a glare.

**Chapter One: The other Minister **she began.

**It was nearing midnight and the Prime Minister was sitting alone in his office, reading a long memo that was slipping through his brain without leaving the slightest trace of meaning behind. He was waiting for a call from the President of a far distant country, and between wondering when the wretched man would telephone, and trying to suppress unpleasant memories of what had been a long very long, tiring, and difficult week, there was not much space in his head for anything else. The more he attempted to focus on the print on the page before him, the more clearly the Prime Minister could see the gloating face of one of his political opponents.**

"Well this sounds like a fun job." George said.

"I can't help but agree my brother." Fred replied.

Everyone looked at the two of them in amusement.

**This particular opponent had appeared on the news that very day, not only to enumerate all the terrible things that had happened in the last week (as though anyone needed reminding) but also to explain why each and every one of them was the governments fault.**

"How much you want to bet these things are not the governments fault." Ron muttered.

"What would they be, then?" Sirius asked.

"You-know-who." Ron said darkly.

"He's still around in your guy's time?" Lily asked worriedly. Harry looked at his mother longingly.

"You'll see." He said sadly.

**The Prime Minister's pulse quickened at the very thought of these accusations, for they were neither fair nor true. How on earth was his government supposed to have stopped that bridge collapsing? It was outrageous for anybody to suggest that they were not spending enough on bridges.**

"Death Eaters." James said.

**The bridge was fewer than ten years old, and the experts were at a loss to explain why it had snapped cleanly in two, sending a dozen cars into the watery depths of the river below. And how dare anyone suggest that was lack of policemen that had resulted in those two very nasty and well-publicized murders? **

"Death Eaters." Sirius said in the same hollow tone James had.

**Or that the government should have somehow foreseen the freak hurricane in the West Country that had caused so much damage to both people and property? And was it **_**his**_** fault that one of his Junior Ministers, Herbert Chorley, had chosen this week to act so peculiarly that he was no going to be spending a lot more time with his family?**

"All of this sounds terrible." Remus said.

"It is." Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, the twins, and Tonks all said together.

"**A grim mood has gripped the country," the opponent had concluded, barely concealing his own broad grin.**

"Git." James said. Not even Lily disagreed with him.

**And unfortunately, this was perfectly true. The Prime Minister felt it himself; people really did seem more miserable than usual. Even the weather was dismal; all this chilly mist in the middle of July…It wasn't right, it wasn't normal…**

"Why are Dementors not guarding the prison. What would they be doing out roaming the streets of England?" Regulus asked in shock.

"You- know-who gained control of them." Hermione said.

"I hate dementors." Sirius said. "I could never imagine being around them all day."

Harry and Hermione shared a sad look with each other before continuing.

**He turned over the second page of the memo, saw how much longer it went on, and gave it up as a bad job. Stretching his arms above his head he looked around his office mournfully. It was a handsome room, with a fine marble fireplace facing the long sash windows, firmly closed against the unseasonable chill. With a slight shiver, the Prime Minister got up and moved over to the window, looking out at the thin mist that was pressing itself against the glass. It was then as he stood with his back to the room, that he heard a soft cough behind him. **

"Ugh. I never want to hear a soft cough in my life ever again." Ginny said with her nose scrunched up in disgust.

"Why?" Remus asked curiously.

"Dolores Umbridge." All the students said unanimously.

"I hate that woman!" Remus said. "She absolutely hates werewolves. How do you know her?"

"She taught us last year. Never in my life have I hated a woman more." Harry said with a big scowl in his face. He looked down at his clenched fist and saw the distinct writing 'I must not tell Lies.' Hopefully he could somehow take her down in this new future they were to build.

**He froze, nose to nose with his own scared-looking reflection in the dark glass. He knew that cough. He had heard it before. He turned very slowly to face the empty room. **

"Sounding more and more like Umbridge by the second." Ron muttered.

"**Hello?" he said trying to sound braver than he felt. **

**For a brief moment he allowed himself the impossible hope that nobody would answer him. However, a voice responded at once, a crisp, decisive voice that sounded as though it were reading a prepared statement. It was coming- as the Prime Minister had known at the first cough- from the froglike**

"Really?" Ginny said. "How much closer can you get. It has to be Umbridge?"

**little man wearing a long silver wig who was depicted in a small, dirty oil painting in the far corner of the room.**

"Thank God! It's not her!" everyone yelled in relief.

"Yes, yes Thank goodness, but why in the world is there a talking painting in the Muggle Prime Minister's office?" Hermione said.

Everyone let their heads drop feeling slightly stupid for not realizing this as well.

"**To the Prime Minister of Muggles. Urgent we meet. Kindly respond immediately, Sincerely Fudge."**

Everyone was thinking the same thing, but Lily was the one voiced the thought. "The Muggle Prime Minister and ours know each other?"

Everyone shrugged their shoulders. Hermione started reading at a quicker pace wanting to find out what happens.

**The man in the painting looked inquiringly at the Prime Minister. **

"**Er," said the Prime Minister, "Listen…It's not a very good time for me…I'm waiting for a telephone call, you see…from the president of-"**

"Doubt that will work." Tonks said. "It seems like Fudge is going through an emergency too."

"**That can be rearranged," said the portrait at once. The Prime Minister's heart sank. He had been afraid of that. **

"Sounds like his experiences with the Wizarding world have not been very pleasant." Regulus said.

"**But I really was rather hoping to speak-"**

"**We shall arrange for the President to forget the call. He will telephone tomorrow night instead," said the little man. "Kindly respond immediately to Mr. Fudge." **

"**I…oh…very well," said the Prime Minister weakly. "yes, I'll see Fudge," **

**He hurried back to his desk, straightening his tie as he went. He had barely resumed his seat, and arranged his face into what he hoped was a relaxed and unfazed expression, when bright green flames burst into life in the empty grate beneath his marble mantelpiece. He watched, trying not to betray a flicker of surprise of alarm, as a portly man appeared within the flames, spinning as fast as a top. Seconds later, he had climbed out onto a rather fine antique rug, brushing ash from the sleeves of his long pin-striped cloak, a lime green bowler hat in his hand. **

"**Ah the Prime Minister," said Cornelius Fudge, striding forward with his hand outstretched. "Good to see you again." **

**The Prime Minister could not honestly return this compliment, so said nothing at all. He was not remotely pleased to see Fudge, whose occasional appearances, apart from being downright alarming in themselves, generally meant that he was about to hear some very bad news. **

"I would not be excited to see the man either in that case." Sirius said.

"Sirius, you make a joke out of all bad news to try and cheer everyone up. Of course you never really succeed, but it's the thought that counts." James said with a smirk.

**Furthermore, Fudge was looking distinctly care-worn. He was thinner, balder, and grayer and his face had a crumpled look.**

"Glad to see he's taking the pressure well." Fred said in a mocking sarcastic tone.

They all laughed humorless laughs.

"I wonder how Cornelius even got to be Minister?" James asked.

Sirius nodded in agreement and said "He's pretty lowly in the ministry at the moment, isn't he Reg?"

Regulus looked surprise his brother was actually acknowledging him in his friends presence and said "Yeah. He's not even in the running for head of a department yet."

**The Prime Minister had seen that kind of look in politicians before, and it never boded well.**

"I don't think that look is good for anyone, actually." Ron said.

"**How can I help you?" he said, shaking Fudge's hand very briefly and gesturing towards the hardest of the chairs in front of the desk.**

"At least he's courteous." Ginny said, causing Tonks to snort.

"**Difficult to know where to begin," muttered Fudge, pulling up the chair, sitting down, and placing his green bowler upon his knees. "What a week, what a week…" **

"**Had a bad one too, have you?" asked the Prime Minister stiffly, hoping to convey by his that he had quite enough on his plate already without any extra helpings from fudge. **

"**Yes, of course," said Fudge, rubbing his eyes wearily and looking morosely at the Prime Minister "I've been having the same week you have, Prime Minister. The Brockdale Bridge…the Bones and Vance murders…not to mention the ruckus in the West Country…"**

"**You-er-your- I mean to say, some of your people were-were involved in those- those things, were they?"**

"he has quite a way with words." Ron snorted.

"Almost as good as you, Ron." Ginny said sweetly. Fred and George gave her high fives.

"We knew there was a reason we loved you the most Ginny." They said.

Ginny rolled her eyes and signaled for Hermione to read. Before she did she noticed the Marauder's amusement. _That's good _she thought to herself _they can begin to bond with us through pranks. _

"**Fudge fixed his gaze the Prime Minister with a rather stern look. "Of course they were," he said. "Surely you've realized what going on?"**

"**I…" hesitated the Prime Minister. **

**It was precisely this sort of behavior that made him dislike Fudge's visits so much. He was, after all, the Prime Minister and did not appreciate being made to feel like an ignorant schoolboy. **

"I know how that feels." Lily said grumpily.

Everyone looked at her in confusion except, to Hermione's shock, Snape. He was wearing a knowing smirk. Lily looked up at him and gave him a small smile. James definitely noticed this and was about to say something when Hermione decided it would be best to start reading again.

**But of course, it had been like this from his very first meeting with Fudge on his very first evening as Prime Minister.**

James laughed, seeming to have either forgotten or ignored what happened between Snape and Lily, and said "I bet that wasn't part of the job description."

**He remembered it as though it were yesterday and knew it would haunt him until his dying day. **

**He had been standing alone in this very office, savoring the triumph that was his after so many years of dreaming and scheming, when he had heard a cough behind him, just like tonight, and turned to find that ugly little portrait talking to him, announcing that the Minister of Magic was about to arrive and introduce himself. **

"It was hard enough to take in just getting a letter from Hogwarts." Hermione said. "Imagine seeing that!"

"You're a muggleborn, too?" Lily asked surprised.

Hermione smiled, being proud of her heritage and said "Yes I am."

"She's the best in our year." Harry said fondly.

"She may even be the the best in the school." Ron muttered.

"_might?"_ Ginny snorted. "She is the best."

Hermione blushed as everyone stared at her, impressed. Except for Snape of course. He was just pretending to blend in with the wall, hoping that maybe he could leave this room as soon as possible.

Sirius noticed that his brother had looked impressed too. Maybe, just maybe there would be hope for him by the end of this.

**Naturally, he had though that the long campaign and the strain of the election had caused him to go mad.**

"Why do muggles always think they're mad when they see magic?" James asked.

"Because it's easier to admit that its only in your head than to try and understand something so seemingly unnatural." Lily said.

"But magic isn't unnatural!" Sirius said.

Hermione rolled her eyes and said "To you it isn't. But to muggles its something meant for fairy tales."

"Like the tales of Beedle the Bard?" Sirius asked.

Hermione had no idea what that was and it looked like neither Harry or Lily knew either.

"It's a Wizarding fairy tale." Regulus told them.

A look of comprehension appeared on all of their face and Hermione said "Thanks!"

"My favorite story was always 'Babbitty Rabbity and Her Cackling Stump.'" James said happily.

"Mine too!" Ron said just as eagerly.

Harry and Hermione looked at each other and burst out laughing. They were clutching their sides and leaning against each other. What kind of name was that?

Everyone else joined in too(except Snape who muttering under his breath about everyone being childish). It had been a good five minutes before they had all stopped. When they did Regulus said "My favorite was 'the tale of the three brothers'"

"I want to hear these someday." Hermione said.

"I'll have to tell you guys sometime." Regulus said. Those who had never heard of them before nodded their heads in appreciation. Hermione couldn't help but notice that Regulus was absolutely nothing like she expected. She thought they would have to deal with another Snape, but Regulus was surprisingly nice.

**He had been utterly terrified to find a portrait talking to him, though this had been nothing to how he felt when a self-proclaimed wizard had bounced out of the fireplace and shaken his hand. He had remained speechless throughout Fudge's kindly explanation that there were witches and wizards still living in secret all over the world and his reassurances that he was not to bother his head about them as the Ministry of Magic took responsibility for the Wizarding community-**

"And they do such a lovely job." Remus said.

Tonks looked up at him and said "The Aurors are good!"

James looked up excitedly and said "You're an auror?"

Tonks didn't seem to hear him at first because she was staring at Remus. Then a few seconds later after she realized that someone asked her a question she said "oh, er- what?"

It was hard for anyone to not notice the blush that was on Tonks' cheeks but nobody said anything. Well Fred and George were going to, but got kicked in the shins rather hard by Ginny.

"I said 'are you an Auror?' because that's my dream job!" James said.

"Oh yeah!" Tonks said. "It's the best job ever!"

George, who was still rubbing his leg and shooting a dirty look at his sister said, "How did you pass? I mean you're so clumsy!"

Tonks rolled her eyes and said "In case you haven't noticed," she turned her hair green and made a Mohawk "I am quite good at disguise. And believe it or not I am a beast at Defense."

Lily looked up at her with awe and said "That is so amazing! I wish I could transform myself into anything."

James was about to say something so sickeningly sweet that surely have the room would have vomited, so to save from the trouble of it all Regulus said "Why don't you start reading again Hermione."

**And prevented the non-magical population from getting wind of them. It was, said Fudge, a difficult job that encompassed everything from regulations on responsible use of broomsticks to keeping the dragon population under control (The Prime Minister remembered clutching the desk for support at this time) **

"I was terrified too when I first learned about dragons!" Lily said indignantly.

Harry looked up at his mother and said "Same here!"

"I thought you would pass out, when I told you!" Ron said with a snort. Harry looked up at him, the two of them recalling Hagrid's dragon Norbert.

"I've always wanted to see a Hungarian Horntail!" Sirius said in a longing voice.

Fred and George clapped each of Harry's shoulders and said "Harry can tell you all about that!"

Hermione sighed and said "don't ever remind me of that. I thought for sure I was going to gain a few gray hairs by the end of that year!"

Ginny nodded in agreement while James said "What?"

"In fourth year I was in the triwizard tournament, and I had to fight a Horntail." Harry said quietly. Everyone who hadn't already known this looked at him as if seeing him in a new light.

"I have a feeling you have a pretty interesting life." Regulus said.

"You have no idea." All the future people said under their breaths.

**Fudge had then patted the shoulder of the still dumb-struck Minister in a fatherly sort of way. **

"**Not to worry," he had said. "It's odds-on you'll never see me again. I'll only bother you if there's something really serious going on our end, something that's likely to affect the Muggles- the non-magical population, I should say. Otherwise it's live and let live. And I must say, you're taking it a lot better than your predecessor. He tried to throw me out the window, thought I was a hoax planned by the opposition.**

Harry couldn't hide the smirk that came when he pictured someone trying to throw Fudge out of a window.

**At this, the Prime Minister had found his voice at last. "You're- you're not a hoax, then?"**

**It had been his last desperate hope. **

"**No," said Fudge gently. "No, I'm afraid I'm not. Look." **

**And he had turned the Prime Minister's cup into a gerbil.**

"I bet that was pleasant." Ron said darkly.

Hermione laughed softly as she said "I imagine it would be a bit like how you felt when you turned scabbers into a furry teacup with a tail."

Ginny high fived Hermione and everyone in the room laughed.

"**But," said the Prime Minister breathlessly, watching his teacup chewing on the corner of his next speech, "but why- why has nobody told me-?"**

"**The Minister of Magic only reveals him- or her-self to the Muggle Prime Minister of the day," said Fudge, poking his wand back inside his jacket. "We find it the best way to maintain our secrecy."**

"**But the," bleated the Prime Minister, "why hasn't a former Prime Minister warned me-? "**

**At this Fudge actually laughed. **

"**My dear Prime Minister, are you ever going to tell anybody?"**

"He has a valid point there." Regulus said. Sirius barked with laughter to his brother's surprise.

"**Still chortling, Fudge had thrown some powder into the fireplace, stepped into the emerald flames, and vanished with a whooshing sound. The Prime Minister had stood there, quite motionless, and realized that he would never, as long he lived, dare mention this encounter to a living soul, for who in the wide world would Believe him?**

**The shock had taken a little while to wear off. For a time, he had tried to convince himself that Fudge had indeed been a hallucination brought on by lack of sleep during his grueling election campaign. In a vain attempt to rid himself of all reminders of this uncomfortable encounter, he had given the gerbil to his delighted niece and instructed his private secretary to take down the portrait of the little man who had announced Fudge's arrival.**

"Doubt that will work." Tonks said.

Hermione looked up from the book and saw Sirius grinning. "What?" she asked.

His grin just widened and he said "You'll see."

**To the Prime Minister's dismay, however, the portrait had proved impossible to remove. When several carpenters, a builder or two, an art historian, and the chancellor of the Exchequer had all tried unsuccessfully to prise it from the wall, the Prime Minister had abandoned the attempt and simply resolved to hope that the thing remained motionless and silent for the rest of his term in office.**

"Sirius, it sounds like the posters of those muggle girls in your room." Regulus said.

"Oh how I love those posters." Sirius said happily. "doesn't mother just despise them?"

Regulus nodded his head and his eyes unfocused slightly afterward, probably thinking of his life at home. Harry looked at him and frowned. It must be even worse for Regulus than for him. At least the Dursley's didn't know dark magic.

**Occasionally he could have sworn he saw out of the corner of his eye the occupant of the painting yawning, or else scratching his nose; even, once or twice, simply walking out of his frame and leaving nothing but a stench of muddy brown canvas behind. However, he had trained himself firmly that his eyes were playing tricks on him whenever anything like this happened. **

**Then three years ago on a night very much like tonight, the Prime Minister had been alone in his office when the portrait had once again announced the imminent arrival of Fudge, who had burst out of the fireplace, sopping wet and in a considerable panic.**

"It sounds like he's having a good day." Remus said nonchalantly.

**Before the Prime Minister could ask why he was dripping all the Axminister, Fudge had started ranting about a prison the Prime Minister had never heard of, **

Sirius shivered and said "Azkaban."

**A man named "Serious" Black,**

Everyone looked at Sirius is confusion, clearly wondering why he had been mentioned.

**something that sounded like Hogwarts, and a boy called Harry Potter, none of which made the remotest sense to the prime minister.**

"…**.I've just come from Azkaban," Fudge had panted, tipping a large amount of water out of the rim of his bowler hat into his pocket. "Middle of the North Sea, you know, nasty flight…the dementors are in uproar."-he shuddered-"They've never had a breakout before. Anyway I had to come to you, Prime Minister. Black's a known Muggle killer and may be planning to rejoin You- Know- Who…**

"What" roared Sirius in disgust and anger. There was no bloody way that he could have changed so much between now and the future. He defied his family. He wasn't a muggle killer. That's why he ran away from them, so that he could be a different person.

Everyone in the room jumped at the sound of his voice. Sirius was shaking with anger and Harry sent Hermione a look that told her to start reading and soon. He would explain everything to them soon.

**But of course you don't even know who You-Know-Who is!" He had gazed hopelessly at the Prime Minister for a moment, then said, "Well, sit down, sit down, I'd better fill you in…Have a whiskey…" **

**The Prime Minister rather resented being told to sit down in his own office, let alone offered his own whiskey, be sat nevertheless. Fudge pulled out his wand, conjured two large glasses full of amber liquid out of thin air, pushed one of them into the Prime Minister's hand, and drew up a chair.**

**Fudge had talked for more than an hour. At one point, he had refused to say a certain name aloud and wrote it instead on a piece of parchment, which he had thrust into the Prime Minister's whiskey-free hand. When at last Fudge had stood up to leave, the Prime Minister had stood up too.**

"**So you think that…" He had squinted down at the name in his left hand. "Lord Vol-"**

"_**he who must not be named!"**_** snarled Fudge. **

"Fear in a name only increases fear itself." Harry muttered under his breath. Gaining looks of respect from those around him.

"**I'm sorry…You think that He Who Must Not Be Named is still alive, then?" **

"**Well Dumbledore says he is," said Fudge, as he had fastened his pin-striped cloak under his chin, "but, we've never found him. If you ask me, he's not dangerous unless he's got support, so it's Black we ought to be worrying about. You'll put out that warning, then? Excellent. Well, I hope we don't see each other again, Prime Minister! Good Night!"**

Sirius who was still glowering at the book said "I want answers. Now."

The golden trio gave shifty looks at each other wondering how they could tell this delicately. Tonks decided that since she was oldest she would take control of this and begin to tell the story.

"In the year 1981 Lily and James Potter were murdered by Lord Voldemort." She began. She let this first sentence sink in. First Lily realized that she was married to the man she hated most, and second she was going to be killed in just four years. She paled considerably and her hands clenched the chair she was sitting in.

James was in shock and his friends look mutinous; what kind of future was this? Harry was having a very hard time watching his parents react to this. He was growing paler by the second knowing that they would soon know he was there son. Ginny took notice of this and gave his shoulder a squeeze in a friendly reassuring way.

Severus was sitting in his corner of the room wanting to kill something. So Lily did end up with the git.

Regulus looked between Lily and James as if studying them. He was not surprised in the least that they ended up together. He didn't think that anyone in the school would be, to be perfectly honest. Even Severus knew. Then out of the corner of Regulus' eye he saw Harry sitting with the redheaded girl, Ginny, reassuring him. This was obviously there son. They eyes, the looks. It was a shock he was the only one to have noticed.

"They were hit with the killing curse. When Voldemort turned his wand towards their son- Harry,-" She was cut off by Lily.

She was staring at Harry with wide eyes. "You're my…" the words were too hard to say out loud. "The eyes." She said fondly at the boy. The suddenly a horror filled inside of her. A horror that only a mother could feel for her child. Lily was actually shocked by how quickly the sense of connection filled inside of her as she looked at her son. "How did you survive?" she asked in a choked voice.

"Voldemort hit him with the killing curse." James face whitened and Lily covered her mouth. "But for some reason when it hit him it backfired and Voldemort was destroyed."

Everyone sat in silence for a minute before Sirius, forgetting for a moment he was a murderer, clapped James on the back and said "Blimey mate! You kid killed the Dark Lord!"

Lily smiled slightly at the fact her child did that, but then a thought struck her. "But that still doesn't explain how he survived."

Harry looked up at his mother and said "It's because of you." Everyone gave him odd looks as he continued on. "You sacrificed yourself for me and that created a strong type of magic that protected me."

Now everyone was looking between Harry and Lily. James broke the silence and asked "How do you know that?" It wasn't that he didn't believe his…_son, _it was just so unheard of.

"That's what Dumbledore told me." He said. When he saw the looks doubt from the Slytherin's he quickly added "And that's what I hear when a dementor is near me."

"What do you hear?" Remus asked.

Harry looked towards the ground and said "I hear my mum screaming. _Not Harry, Please, Please not Harry. Take me instead._"

Lily was now crying silently. Her poor son didn't have any parents, and from the sounds of it there was no Sirius in the picture either. At this point Lily didn't care that she was married to her number one enemy. All she cared about was Harry.

James wanted to comfort Lily but he wasn't sure how she would react seeing as how they had just gone from her hating him to being married, having a son, and being murdered. Luckily the brown haired girl Hermione walked over to her and wrapped an arm around her. James looked over at his son to see him struggling to keep control of himself. He assumed it must be hard to see his dead parents for the first time.

Hermione was sensing how deeply uncomfortable everyone in the room was so she said "I know we haven't read two chapters, or even one for that matter. But I think everyone could time to digest everything. Lily whispered thank you but groaned when Sirius spoke up.

"That's fine and everything, but I need to know what happened to me."

Tonks glanced at Ron and Hermione and said "Do you want to tell this story?" they nodded and Ron began.

"In our third year a criminal convince by the name of Sirius Black escaped out of Azkaban prison. He was on a hunt to kill Harry Potter." Sirius was getting angrier by the second. "So dementor's were guarding the school, hence the dementor's by Harry."

'What was I convicted of?" Sirius asked with his teeth clenched together.

"The murder of Peter Pettigrew and thirteen helpless Muggles."

Sirius was about to speak but Ron thought it best to continue the story. "So anyway after a long school year of my rat getting harassed by Hermione's cat, being awoken by you standing over my bed with a knife the truth finally came to light.

One day after an execution of Hagrid's Hippogriff Buckbeak my rat bit me ran out my hands. I ran after him and caught him in my hands only to be bitten in the leg by a black dog and dragged into the shrieking shack. Harry and Hermione came in after me to save me.

Suddenly the big black dog turned into Sirius Black. He kept rambling about killing someone, who Harry took for himself. Harry was fully prepared to kill you back, despite not knowing an unforgivable, and pulled out his wand at you. That's when Lupin comes in."

Lupin looked surprised and Lily was currently shooting daggers at James friends. If they dared touch her son she would Avada them herself. James currently was trying to make sense of everything.

"Lupin disarmed Harry." Lily growled and Ron quickly continued. "Then they greeted each other and started talking nonsense. Suddenly Sirius was talking about waiting thirteen years to kill 'him' but Lupin said that a few more minutes wouldn't hurt.

So then you began telling us a story. A story that began with Sirius being innocent and Peter Pettigrew being alive. That's when Snape comes in. Harry disarms him and knocks him out" Snape glared at the boy. "suddenly trusting Lupin and Sirius. Sirius yelled 'Come out Peter, It's time to play.'- which was incredibly creepy, mind you.

So all in all Sirius was innocent and Peter was the one who killed all the muggles. Hermione would you like to take it from here?" Ron asked.

Hermione nodded and said "So now everything was going to be great because Sirius would get his innocence and Peter would get the punishment he deserved. Until the full moon came out."

It was now Lupin's turn to pale and he slapped himself in the forehead. "Stupid werewolf." He muttered.

"So in the midst of chaos surrounding us Peter escaped leading to a giant series of unfortunate events in which Sirius ended up getting sentenced the Dementors Kiss because nobody believed that Sirius was innocent except Dumbledore.

So we used a time turner to save Hagrid's Hippogriff that we flew up to Sirius's locked cell and he flew off onto it."

"Well that's just a fan-freaking-tastic story." Regulus said, to everyone's surprise.

"And why is that, Reg? It's not like anything happened to you." Sirius said.

Regulus stood up and began walking towards the door and said "Believe it or not I actually care for people, unlike our parents. And I don't want to see my older brother sent to Azkaban for a crime worthy of a death eater!" Then he stormed out of the room.

Fred and George who had been unusually quiet said "I think that's our cue to leave too."

Everyone nodded. Ginny squeezed Harry's shoulder one last time before walking with Hermione to go to bed. "Hey Lily, will you come up with us to show us where we'll be sleeping?" she nodded her head and took one last look at Harry. As the girls left the boys decided to hit the hay too.

Severus was out of their faster than the blink of an eye.

That night everyone stayed up for hours thinking of different things, except for Ron who had fallen asleep as quick as possible.

Severus thought about how much he wished Lily hadn't married James.

James thought about how he had gotten his wish of marrying Lily.

Lily thought about her son, Harry.

Harry thought about his family and thanked his friends for their support, especially Ginny who kept him in one piece.

Ginny thought about Harry.

Fred and George thought about becoming Marauders.

Tonks thought about Remus and how young he looked compared to back home. She thought about how they night before she left, he kissed her.

Remus thought about how there was a full moon coming soon.

Sirius thought about how much of a living hell his life became and how his brother had gotten so upset.

Regulus thought about his brother and family and Death Eaters.

Hermione thought about the book, of course, and how they were going to change the future, because she swore to herself she never wanted to see Harry have that haunted face he had on tonight as he looked longingly at his parents he never had.

* * *

In case any of you want to read a Dramione one shot i made one and its called "Speak Now!" ;)

Review Review Review! :D


	3. Chapter 3

The story will have a lot chapter's from Hermione's pov, because she will be a pivotal character in the sequel!

* * *

The next day when Hermione woke up she felt like she was back in her own time. The room Lily stayed in was the same one Hermione had in the future. But this thought was broken as the memories of last night reverberated around her head.

She was twenty years in the past.

She shot up from bed and decided she needed to walk around. The library was always a good place for Hermione to think.

Despite being in a different time period, Hogwarts looked exactly the same. When she arrived at the library she decided she would do some research on time travel. Of course she had already looked through all the books in third year. But perhaps there were some other books here.

She gathered all the books on time travel she could find and looked for a table. The library was completely empty except for one person.

"Hi Regulus." Hermione said as she sat her books down on the table. He looked up in surprise and Hermione was shocked to see the dark circles under his eyes. "I won't even ask how you're doing. Late night?"

He grimaced at her and said "Oh, not at all." He glanced over at her books, "What an interesting topic, time travel. I wonder what kind of interest you have in that?"

She smirked and said "Nothing whatsoever."

In the next few minutes neither of them said anything else. Hermione concentrated on her book and Regulus worked on his potions essay.

"What year are you in?" he asked.

"Harry, Ron and I are about to start our sixth year. How about you?"

"Sixth year. The Marauders and Severus are seventh years."

Another silence fell around them and Hermione didn't know what to do. She was sitting at a table with Sirius Black's brother who was a Death Eater. Was he a Death Eater yet? It's not like she could just come out and ask.

"I'm sorry." Hermione said.

His head shot up and his eyes narrowed.

"I'm sorry we came here to tell you all this crappy news. But we're hoping that by doing this we'll be able to change what happens to you, Sirius and everyone else in this time period."

Regulus dropped his head and said "I'm just pissed. I haven't talked to my brother since he ran away and now after finally talking to him civilly I find out how bad his life is." He stared at Hermione with haunted eyes. "Do you know what happens to me?"

Hermione looked back at him sadly. "I don't know very much. In all honesty I don't even know why you were on the list of people to read the books. The only thing I do know about you is that you become a Death Eater," she bit her lip "And then die."

Regulus paled and had to restrain from clutching at his left forearm. Hermione arched an eyebrow but said nothing.

Before either could talk anymore Hermione saw Harry and Ron walk into the library.

"Mione!" they yelled happily.

"We were all looking for you because we want to start reading. Obviously the library was a good first place to look." Ron said smirking before turning to the younger Black brother, "Hey, could you tell Snape that were going to start reading again right after breakfast."

Regulus grabbed his potions essay and said coldly "His name is Severus, and yes we'll be there."

"He's a little ray of sunshine." Ron said, not noticing the glare Hermione sent him.

"Is everyone up?" she asked Harry.

The spectacled boy nodded and said "Lily and Ginny are waiting up for you. The Marauder's were all really hungry so they already headed up to the Great Hall. Ron wanted to go with them but I dragged him with me."

Hermione snorted and rolled her eyes at her red headed friend. As they walked through the hallways they passed a professor who grinned at them.

They all just smiled politely back and continued walking. "Wotcher, Harry!"

Harry spun around and said "Sorry Tonks! We couldn't even recognize you."

She laughed and said "I can't even recognize myself. I forgot we were in the past when I woke up and when I looked in the mirror I nearly screamed at my reflection."

Tonks then told them about Professor Waylight, whom she would be working with until they got home. Hermione tried to figure out how long they would be here. The book was decent sized and it's not like they could just read it all in a day. They couldn't even read a whole chapter last night.

When they arrived at the common room Lily and Ginny were waiting along with two other girls Hermione didn't know. One of them looked familiar though.

Harry was looking in the opposite direction as his mother and said "Hey Ron. Let's go meet up with Fred and George."

"They left with James and co." she said kindly.

He nodded and walked quickly out of the room with an oblivious Ron.

Lily looked after him before turning back towards the group around her. Hermione could tell Lily wanted to talk to her son and see what he was like. "Hermione, I already introduced Ginny to them but these are my other roommates."

A girl with jet black straight hair and dark blue eyes said "I'm Amber and this is Alice." She pointed to the familiar round faced girl. Hermione's eyes widened as she realized who this was. Neville's mother.

Lily couldn't help but notice the glance Ginny and Hermione shared as they took in Alice. She would have to ask about that later.

"It's nice meeting you, but I need to go meet Frank." Alice said happily.

Lily rolled her eyes and leaned over to the others and said "That's her boyfriend. They've been dating since fourth year."

Hermione looked at Alice again and knew that when they returned to their old time she would tell him about this.

Alice skipped happily out of the common room and Ginny repeated her brother's words from earlier, except this time being serious, "Well isn't she a little ball of sunshine."

Breakfast that morning was mostly uninteresting. Everyone was shooting the Marauder's odd looks because of how quiet they were being. The newest gossip was all about the new kids and teacher.

Hermione had guffawed when Fred told her about the most popular rumor; Tonks was the mother of all them and they had moved because they were all guilty of murder and Dumbledore had secured them places here but was locking them in a room so they couldn't kill anyone else.

When breakfast was over they all went up to the Room of Requirement together. Tonks was a few minutes late; she didn't want to make it look obvious they were up to something.

Lily sat next to Ginny who was sitting next to the twins. The twins were talking to Sirius and James. Tonks was having a conversation with Lupin about becoming an Auror. Harry sat in between Ron and Hermione quietly. When the Slytherins arrived Regulus sat next to Hermione and Snape next to him, as far from Ginny as possible.

Hermione grabbed her bag and pulled out the book once again. "Since we didn't finish the chapter last night due to," she glanced at everyone "Unforeseen circumstances, I'll continue reading the rest of the chapter."

Hermione flipped through the book and said "Here's where we left off,"

"**So you think He Who Must Not Be Named is still alive then?"**

"**Well Dumbledore says he is," said Fudge, as he fastened his pin striped cloak under his chin, "But we've never found. If you ask me, he's not dangerous unless he's got support, so it's Black we ought to be worrying about.**

Sirius growled menacingly.

**You'll put out that warning, then? Excellent. Well, I hope we don't see each other again, Prime Minister! Good Night!"**

**But they had seen each other again. Less than a year later a harassed-looking Fudge had appeared out of thin air in the cabinet room to inform the Prime Minister that there had been a spot of bother at the Kwidditch (Or that was what it sounded like)**

James had a stunned look on his face as he said "He doesn't know what Quidditch is? It's only the best sport in the world! I mean how-"

"Shut up." Lily said irritably. She really wanted to hear what happened. There had to be an important reason there was a whole chapter devoted to the Muggle Prime Minister.

James quieted instantly.

**World Cup and that several Muggles had been 'involved,'**

Hermione winced as she thought about what the Death Eaters did to that poor Muggle Family.

**But that the Prime Minister was not to worry, the fact that You Know Who's Mark had been seen again meant nothing; Fudge was sure it was an isolated incident, and the Muggle Liaison Office was dealing with all the memory modifications as they spoke. **

"Idiots." Fred and George spoke together. They all nodded in agreement.

"**Oh and I almost forgot," Fudge had added. "We're importing three foreign dragons and a sphinx for the Tri Wizard Tournament, quite routine, but the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures tells me that it's in the rule book that we have to notify you if we're bringing highly dangerous creatures into the country." **

"I bet he'll take that well." George said.

Lily turned towards Harry and said "Didn't you say you fought a dragon in the Tri Wizard tournament? How did you even get in that?"

Harry sat up and said "Well it's kind of a long story."

James crossed his arms. "We have time."

"Well…" Harry began. He told them all about his fourth year, leaving out how Voldemort had come back. He had a feeling that would come up in the book. The other's added in their own tidbits of what happened and by the end Harry's parents were gaping at him.

Sirius turned to his best friend and said "Wow, James. You and Evan here created a pretty troublesome kid."

Lily blushed and Hermione took this as her cue to continue.

"**I- what- **_**dragons?"**_** spluttered the Prime Minister. **

"**Yes, three" said Fudge**

"Make that Four." Harry muttered, earning him a few pitiful glances.

"**And a sphinx. Well, good day to you." **

**The Prime Minister had hoped beyond hope that dragons and sphinxes would be the worst of it, but no. Less than two years later, Fudge had erupted out of the fire yet again, this time with the news that there had been a mass breakout from Azkaban.**

"**A mass breakout?" Repeated the Prime Minister hoarsely. **

Sirius had a dark look on his face as he said "I bet they think I'm the cause of it."

No one from the future made eye contact with him.

"**No need to worry, no need to worry!" shouted Fudge, already with one foot in the flames. "We'll have them rounded up in no time-just thought you ought to know!"**

**And before the Prime Minister could shout "Now, Wait just one moment!" Fudge had vanished in a shower of green sparks.**

Tonks snorted and said "I bet that he felt really reassured by that."

Everyone laughed and he Snape had the slightest smirk on his face, but it was gone in a second.

**Whatever the press and the opposition might say, the Prime Minister was not a foolish man. It had not escaped his notice that despite Fudge's assurances at their first meeting, they were now seeing rather a lot of each other, nor that Fudge was becoming more flustered with each visit. Little thought he liked to think about the Minister of Magic (Or, as he always called Fudge in his head, the **_**other**_** minister) , the Prime Minister could not help but fear that the next time Fudge appeared it would be with graver news still. The sight therefore, of Fudge stepping out of the fire once more, looking disheveled and fretful and sternly surprised that the Prime Minister did not know exactly why he was there, was about the worst thing that had happened in the course of this extremely gloomy week. **

"I pity the muggle for having to work with this idiot." Ginny said under her breath, to the approval of her older brothers.

"**How should I know what's going on in the- er- Wizarding Community?" snapped the Prime Minister now. "I have a country to run and quite enough that concerns at the moment without-" **

"**We have the same concerns," Fudge interrupted. "The Brockdale Bridge didn't wear out. That wasn't really a hurricane. Those murders were not the works of Muggles. And Herbert Chorely's family would be safer without him. We are currently making arrangements to have him transferred to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. The move should be effected tonight." **

"**What do you…I'm afraid I…**_**what?"**_** blustered the Prime Minister. **

**Fudge took a great, deep breath and said, "Prime Minister, I am very sorry to have to tell you that he's back. He Who Must Not Be Named is back." **

The silence in the room was disturbing. Everyone's faces were pale, even those from the future who already knew the events.

"**Back? When you say Back…he's alive? I mean-"**

**The Prime Minister groped in his memory for the details of that horrible conversation years previously, when Fudge had told him about the wizard who feared above all others, the Wizard who had committed a thousand terrible crimes before his mysterious disappearance fifteen years earlier. **

Remus did the math in his head. "So You know- _Voldemort_ came back in your fourth year?"

Harry nodded and told them of what had happened at the end of the Tri Wizard Tournament. Lily's mouth was open in horror by the end and the others were gaining more and more respect for Harry.

"That's terrible!" James spluttered.

Regulus sat back trying to think of what all of this meant. How could he have died and then come back. He racked his mind for all the things that only he, out of everyone in this room, would know.

"**Yes, Alive," said Fudge. "That is- I don't know- is a man alive if he can't be killed? I don't really understand it, and Dumbledore won't explain properly-"**

"Or maybe you're just too thick to understand." Ron said.

Hermione had to fight the urge of asking Ron on how _he _could be calling someone thick.

"**but anyway, he's certainly got a body and is killing and talking, so I suppose, for the purposes of our discussion, yes, he's alive."**

**The prime Minister did not know what to say to this, but a persistent habit of wishing to appear well-informed on any subject came up made him cast around for any details that he could remember of their previous conversations. **

"**Is Serious Black with-er-He Who Must Not Be Named?" **

"**Black? Black?" said Fudge distractedly, turning his bowler rapidly in his fingers. "Sirius Black, you mean?" **

"Oh _no_, not him!" Sirius said sarcastically.

"**Merlin's Beard, no. Black's dead. Turns out we were- er- mistaken about Black. He was innocent after all. He wasn't in league with He who must not be named either. " **

Sirius looked happy that he had finally been recognized as innocent. But then a second later he realized he died. Severus, on the other hand was feeling slightly guilty for the smug smile fighting to grace his lips.

"**I mean," he added defensively, spinning the bowler hat still faster, "all the evidence pointed- we had more than fifty eye witnesses- but anyway, as I say, he's dead. Murdered, as a matter of fact. On Ministry of Magic premises. There's going to be an inquiry actually…." **

"Who killed him?" Regulus asked, sounding defensive, to the surprise of his brother.

Harry's fist was clenched, the scar on his hand that said "I must not tell lies" showing. "Bellatrix Lestrange."

Regulus' eyes widened as this news hit him. Their own cousin did it.

"What that little…" James said darkly. "when I see her I'll-"

Fred and George's faces lit up. "You mean she's here at Hogwarts right now?" one of them asked.

"She's a fourth year." Regulus said disdainfully.

Fred and George smiled at each other and Hermione instantly knew Bellatrix would be on the receiving end of one of their pranks. James noticed the glint in their eyes and decided they would be having a talk soon. Lily pretended to not notice the scheming looks on all their faces.

**To his great surprise, the Prime Minister actually felt a fleeting stab of pity for Fudge at this point.**

"And here I was thinking this Prime Minister had a brain…" someone muttered.

**It was, however, eclipsed almost immediately by a glow of smugness at the thought that, deficient though he himself might be in the area of materializing out of fireplaces, there had never been a murder in any of the government departments under his charge…Not yet, anyway…**

"That's not ominous at all." Ginny said.

Nobody disagreed.

**While the Prime Minister surreptitiously touched the wood of his desk, Fudge continued, "But Black's by the by now. The is, we're at war, Prime Minister, and steps must be taken." **

"**At war?" repeated the Prime Minister nervously. "Surely that's a little bit of an overstatement?" **

"**He who must not be named has now been joined by those of his followers who broke out of Azkaban in January," said Fudge, speaking more and more rapidly and twirling his bowler so fast that it was a lime green blur. "Since they have moved into the open, they have been wreaking havoc. The Brockdale Bridge- he did it, Prime Minister, he threatened a mass Muggle killing unless I stood aside for him and-" **

"**Good grief, so it's **_**your**_** fault those people were killed and I'm having to answer questions about rusted rigging and corroded expansion joints and I don't know what else!" said the Prime Minister furiously.**

"_**My **_**fault!" said Fudge, coloring up. "Are you saying you would have caved in to blackmail that that?" **

"**Maybe not," said the Prime Minister, standing up and striding about the room, "but I would have put all my efforts into catching the blackmailer before he committed any such atrocity!" **

Everyone laughed without a trace of humor at the idea of the Prime Minister trying to catch Voldemort.

"**Do you really think I wasn't already making every effort?" demanded Fudge heatedly. "Every Auror in the Ministry was- and is- trying to find him and round up his followers, but we happen to be talking about one of the most powerful wizards of all time, a wizard who has eluded capture for almost three decades!" **

"**So I suppose you're going to tell me he caused the hurricane in the West Country too?" said the Prime Minister, his temper rising with every pace he took. It was infuriating to discover the reason for all these terrible disasters and not to be able to tell the public, almost worse than it being the government's fault at all. **

"**That was no hurricane," said Fudge miserably. **

"**Excuse me!" barked the Prime Minister, now positively stomping up and down. "Tree uprooted, roofs ripped off, lampposts bent, horrible injuries-" **

"**It was the Death Eater's," said Fudge. "He Who Must Not Be Named's followers. And…and we suspect giant involvement." **

"This is terrible." Remus said to no one in particular.

"It really is." Tonks said with a shudder. Even the Marauder's could tell it took a lot to get Tonks down.

**The Prime Minister stopped in his tracks as though he had hit an invisible wall. "**_**what **_**Involvement." **

**Fudge grimaced. "He used giants last time, when he wanted to go for the grand effect," he said. "The office of Misinformation has been working around the clock, we've had teams of Obliviators out trying to modify the memories of all the muggles who saw what really happened, we've got most of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures running around Somerset, but we can't find the giant- It's been a disaster." **

"**You don't say!" said the Prime Minister furiously. **

"**I won't deny the morale is low at the Ministry," said Fudge. "What with all that, and then losing Amelia Bones."**

A look of comprehension appeared on Lily's face. "She's in our year! She's a Ravenclaw!"

Despite her being alive now, they still had a moment of silence for her.

"**Losing who?" **

"**Amelia Bones. Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. We think He Who Must Not Be Named may have murdered her in person, because she was a very gifted witch and- and all the evidence was that she put up a real fight." **

Hermione heard Lily sniff and looked up to see her wipe a tear from her eye. Everyone had very morose features.

Hermione really hoped this chapter was over soon because she couldn't take much more of this terrible sadness.

**Fudge cleared his throat and, with an effort, it seemed, stopped spinning his bowler hat. **

"**But that murder was in the newspapers." Said the Prime Minister, momentarily diverted of his anger. "**_**our **_**newspapers. Amelia Bones…It just said she was a middle aged woman who lived alone. It was a- a nasty killing, wasn't it? It's had a rather a lot of publicity. The police are baffled, you see." **

**Fudge sighed. "Well, of course they are," he said. "Killed in a room that was locked from the inside, wasn't she? We on the hand know exactly who did it, not that that gets us any further toward catching him. And then there was Emmeline Vance, Maybe you didn't hear about that one-"**

Everyone flinched as another familiar name was mentioned. She was a student who had graduated just last year.

"**Oh yes I did! "Said the Prime Minister. "It happened just around the corner from here, as a matter of fact. The papers had a field day with it, 'breakdown of law and order in the Prime Minister's back yard-" **

"**And as if all that wasn't enough," said Fudge, barely listening to the Prime Minister, "We've got dementors swarming all over the place, attacking people left, right and center…" **

**Once upon a happier time this sentence would have unintelligible to the Prime Minister, but he was wiser now. **

"**I thought dementors guard the prisoners in Azkaban," he said cautiously. **

"**They did," said Fudge wearily. "But not anymore. They've deserted the prison and joined He Who Must Not Be Named. I won't pretend that wasn't a blow." **

"You mean Dementors just roam the streets and attack helpless people?" Sirius asked, disgusted.

Harry nodded and said "I was attacked by one last year."

Lily wasn't even sure if she wanted to hear this story. So far she had learned her son had defeated You Know Who, been in the Tri wizard tournament facing Dragons and Sphinxes, and seen You Know Who come back.

Luckily, Hermione began reading again before he could tell about that experience.

"**But," said the Prime Minister, with a sense of dawning horror, "didn't you tell me theyre the creatures that drain the hope and happiness out of people?"**

"**That's right. And they're breeding. That's what's causing all this mist." **

**The Prime Minister sank, weak-kneed, into the nearest chair. The idea of invisible creatures swooping through the towns and countryside, spreading despair and hopelessness in his voters, made him feel quite faint. **

It seemed to make the rest of the room quite faint too.

"**Now see here Fudge- you've got to do something! It's your job as the Minister of Magic!"**

"**My dear Prime Minister, you can't honestly think I'm still Minister of Magic after all this? I was sacked three days ago! The whole Wizarding community has been screaming for my resignation for a fortnight. I've never known them so united in my whole term of office!" said Fudge, with a brave attempt of a smile.**

Hermione glanced at the book somewhat pitifully.

**The Prime Minister was momentarily lost for words. Despite his indignation at the position into which he had been placed, he still rather felt for the shrunken-looking man sitting opposite him. **

"**I'm very sorry," he said finally. "If there's anything I can do?"**

"**It's very kind of you, Prime Minister, but there is nothing. I was sent here tonight to bring you up to date on recent events and to introduce you to my successor. I rather thought he'd be here by now, but of course, he's very busy at the moment, with so much going on." **

**Fudge looked around at the portrait of the ugly little man wearing the long silver wig, who was digging in his ear with the point of a quill. Catching Fudge's eye, the portrait said "He'll be here in a moment; he's just finishing a letter to Dumbledore."**

"**I wish him luck," said Fudge, sounding bitter for the first time. "I've been writing to Dumbledore twice a day for the past fortnight, but he won't budge. If he'd just been prepared to persuade the boy, I might still be…Well maybe Scrimegeour will have more success."**

**Fudge subsided into what was clearly an aggrieved silence, but it was broken almost immediately by the portrait, which suddenly spoke in its crisp, official voice.**

"**To the Prime Minister of muggles. Requesting a meeting urgent. Kindly respond immediately. Rufus Scrimegeour, Minister of Magic." **

"**Yes, yes, fine." Said the Prime Minister distractedly, and he barely flinched as the flames in the grate turned emerald green again, rose up, and revealed a second spinning wizard in their heart, disgorging him moments later onto the antique rug. **

**Fudge got to his feet and , after a moment's hesitation, the Prime Minister did the same, watching the new arrival straighten up, dust down his long black robes, and look around. **

**The Prime Minister's first, foolish thought was that Rufus Scrimegeour looked rather like an old lion. **

"Ha!" yelled one of the twins. "Told you he looked like a lion, Ron! The muggle Prime Minister agrees with me."

Ron mumbled something incoherent under his breath, to the amusement of the Marauders.

**There were streaks of gray in his mane of tawny hair and his bushy eyebrows; he had keen yellowish eyes behind a pair of wire rimmed spectacles and a certain rangy, loping grace even though he walked with a slight toughness; **

Harry looked sheepishly over at his best friend and said "He does sound like a lion." Ginny grinned at him and he smiled back.

**The Prime Minister thought he understood why the Wizarding community preferred Scrimegeour to Fudge as a leader in these dangerous times. **

"**How do you do?" said the Prime Minister politely, holding out his hand. **

**Scrimegeour grasped it briefly, his eyes scanning the room, then pulled out a wand from under his clothes. **

"**Fudge told you everything?" he asked, striding over to the door and tapping the keyhole with is wand. The Prime Minister heard the lock click.**

"**Er- yes," said the Prime Minister. "And if you don't mind, I'd rather that door remained unlocked." **

"**I'd rather not be interrupted," said Scrimegeour shortly, "or watched," he added, pointing his wand at the windows, so that the curtains swept across them. **

"Paranoid, is he?" Tonks asked.

Remus laughed and Hermione saw a small blush appear on Tonk's cheeks. Hermione had to repress a smile.

"**Right, well, I'm a busy man, so let's get down to business. First of all, we need to discuss your security." **

**The Prime Minister drew himself up to his fullest height and replied, "I am perfectly happy with the security I've already got, thank you very-" **

"**Well we're not," Scrimegeour cut in. "It'll be a poor lookout for the Muggles if the Prime Minister gets put under the Imperius curse. The new secretary in your outer office-"**

"**I'm not getting rid of Kingsley Shacklebot, if that's what you're suggesting." Said the Prime Minister hotly.**

"Kingsley!" Tonks shouted happily, as if he was in the room with them. Everyone laughed, excluding the Slytherins laughed. They were both thinking about Sirius' death; for two very different reasons, though.

"Don't talk to the book, Tonks, it can't hear you." Hermione said.

Tonks stuck her tongue out and motioned for her to continue reading.

"**He's highly efficient, gets through twice the work the rest of them-"**

"**That's because he's a wizard," said Scrimgeour, without a flicker of a smile. "A highly trained Auror, who has been assigned to you for your protection."**

"**Now, wait a moment!" declared the Prime Minister. "You can't just put your people into my office, I decide who works for me-" **

Everyone laughed again, including Regulus, at the antics of the Prime Minister.

"**I thought you were happy with Shacklebot?" said Scrimgeour.**

"**I…well, as long as Shacklebot's work continues to be…er…excellent,"**

"He has such a way with words" Ron snorted. Once again Hermione had to hold back a comment directed towards he friend.

**Said the Prime Minister lamely, but Scrimgeour barely seemed to hear him. **

"**Now, about Herbert Chorely, your Junior Minister," he continued. "The one who has been entertaining the public by impersonating a duck."**

The Marauders, twins, and Ron were all trying to not to laugh at the image of this.

"**What about him?" asked the Prime Minister.**

"**he has clearly reacted to a poorly performed Imperius Curse," said Scrimgeour. "It's addled his brains, but he could still be dangerous."**

"**He's only quacking!" said the Prime Minister weakly. "Surely a bit of rest…Maybe go easy on the drink…"**

"**A team of healers from St. Mugos's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries are examining him as we speak. So far he has attempted to strangle three of them," said Scrimgeour.**

All signs of laughter quickly died away.

"**I think it best that we remove him from Muggle society for a while."**

"**I…well…He'll be alright, won't he?" said the Prime Minister anxiously. **

**Scrimgeour shrugged, already moving back toward the fireplace.**

"**Well that's really all I had to say. I will keep you posted of developments, Prime Minister-or at least, I shall probably be too busy to come personally, in which cast I will send Fudge here. He has consented to stay on in an advisory capacity."**

**Fudge attempted to smile, but was unsuccessful; he merely looked as if he had a bad toothache. Scrimgeour was already rummaging in his pocket for the mysterious powder that turned the fire green. The Prime Minister gazed hopelessly at the pair of them for a moment, then the words he had fought to suppress all evening burst from him at last.**

"**But for heaven's sake-you're **_**wizards!**_** You can do **_**magic! **_**Surely you can sort out-well- **_**anything!"**_

**Scrimgeour turned slowly around on the spot and exchanged an incredulous look with Fudge, who really did manage a smile this time as he said kindly, "The trouble is, the other side can too magic too, Prime Minister." **

**And with that, the two wizards stepped one after the other into the bright green fire and vanished.**

"That's the end of the chapter," Hermione said as she marked the book before closing it.

Tonks stood up and stretched and said "Well we didn't learn very much from that part of the chapter, except how bad it is out there, but we already know that."

Sirius grabbed the book and opened it up to the next chapter.

"Then why don't we read to find out more."

Tonks sighed and sat back down as Sirius read the name of the next chapter.

"**Spinner's End,"**

**

* * *

**Sorry for such a long wait for this chapter! Life caught up to me! sorry for any spelling errors-I didn't proofread the chapter!

How did you like it? What would you like to see happen in the story?

Review Please!


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry this took so long :(

Disclaimer: Jk Rowling owns all characters, settings, and all writing in bold is her fabulous writing.

* * *

**"Spinner's End," **Sirius read. Lily jerked and glanced at Severus, whose eyes were narrowed suspiciously. Hermione seemed to be the only one who noticed and her curiosity got the better of her.

"What is it?" she asked.

Lily bit her lip and looked at Severus again. This time everyone noticed her glance and gave her questioning looks.

"It's near my house. It's the street Severus lives on."

There was a moment of silence before the room exploded.

"You- he- live- but- WHAT?" James sputtered. Harry had a dumbstruck look on his face. His mother lived down the street from the old bat.

Remus actually found this situation to be quite hilarious and was choking on laughter. Tonks glanced at him and couldn't help but notice how happy he looked in this time period.

"Sirius," Regulus hissed. "Read!"

Sirius decided to read on, despite how much he wanted to see James go jump on Severus like he looked like he was prepared to. He thought that maybe if he read this chapter he could find something out about Snape that could prove what a slimy git he truly is.

Regulus, having misinterpreted his brother reading in respects of Regulus' wishes, grinned.

**Many miles away the chilly mist that had pressed against the Prime Minister's windows drifted over a dirty river that wound between overgrown, rubbish-strewn banks.**

Everyone's voices finally settled and Snape was once agian looking suspicious.

**An immense chimney, relic of a disused mill, reared up, shadowy and ominous. There was no sound apart from the whisper of the black water and no sign of life apart from a scrawny fox that had slunk down the bank to nose hopefully at some old fish-and-chip wrappings in the tall grass.**

**But then, with a very faint pop, a slim, hooded figure appeared out of thin air on the edge of the river. The fox froze, wary eyes fixed upon this strange new phenomenon. The figure seemed to take its bearings for a few moments, then set off with light, quick strides, its long cloak rustling over the grass.**

**With a second and louder pop, another hooded figure materialized.**

"**Wait!"**

**The harsh cry startled the fox, now crouching almost flat in the undergrowth. It leapt from its hiding place and up the bank. There was a flash of green light, a yelp, and the fox fell back to the ground, dead.**

Ginny stared angrily at Sirius, as if the innocent fox dying was his fault.

"It was just a fox, Gin." Ron told her.

"They didn't know that. And it doesn't make it any less right." she said with a glare. Lily nodded in agreement.

**The second figure turned over the animal with its toe.**

"**Just a fox," said a woman's voice dismissively from under the hood. "I thought perhaps an Auror — Cissy, wait!"**

"Lovely." Regulus said.

"This doesn't exactly seem like one of those moments where the word 'lovely' could be used." Hermione told him.

"No," He said with a roll of his eyes. "What's lovely is that I know who they are."

Everyone gave a questioning look towards the younger Black in the room.

"Aww, come on Sirius. You don't recongize them?"

Sirius nodded his head no. Regulus just sat back in his chair and let him continue to read. He would figure it out soon enough.

**But her quarry, who had paused and looked back at the flash of light, was already scrambling up the bank the fox had just fallen down.**

"**Cissy — Narcissa — listen to me —"**

Sirius exclaimed to himself.

"Of course! It's our _lovely_ cousins Narcissa and Bellatrix."

Harry growled at the mention of Sirius' killers name. Everyone was reminded of what happened to the animagus and Fred and George continued to think of ways to harass her.

"Narcissa isn't _that_ bad." Regulus said. Due to the glares from those from the future, he shut his mouth.

**The second woman caught the first and seized her arm, but the other wrenched it away.**

"**Go back, Bella!"**

"**You must listen to me!"**

"**I've listened already. I've made my decision. Leave me alone!"**

**The woman named Narcissa gained the top of the bank, where a line of old railings separated the river from a narrow, cobbled street. The other woman, Bella, followed at once. Side by side they stood looking across the road at the rows and rows of dilapidated brick houses, their windows dull and blind in the darkness.**

"**He lives here?" asked Bella in a voice of contempt. "Here? In this Muggle dunghill? We must be the first of our kind ever to set foot —"**

Severus looked quite angry. His eyes looked like slits and he knew it would not be good for Bellatrix if he saw her any time soon. He was through with people talking about how shoddy his house was.

Lily looked over and sent him a pitiful look. He quickly looked away.

**But Narcissa was not listening; she had slipped through a gap in the rusty railings and was already hurrying across the road.**

"**Cissy, wait!"**

**Bella followed, her cloak streaming behind, and saw Narcissa darting through an alley between the houses into a second, almost identical street. Some of the streetlamps were broken; the two women were running between patches of light and deep darkness. The pursuer caught up with her prey just as she turned another corner, this time succeeding in catching hold of her arm and swinging her around so that they faced each other.**

"**Cissy, you must not do this, you can't trust him —"**

"**The Dark Lord trusts him, doesn't he?"**

Everyone in the room knew what was implied with that meaning. Lily's head dropped down and she put her head in her hands.

"Why Sev?"

The dissapointment in her voice was too much for Severus.

"Lily, I-"

He was cut off by James who had stepped in between them.

"Stop talking to her you unworthy Death Eater!" He yelled.

Regulus shot up angrily and got in James' face. "He's not a Death Eater yet!"

James pushed Regulus aside and said "Oh look a Death Eater standing up for another Death Eater! What a surprise."

"James," Sirius admonished. James didn't seem to hear him.

Regulus pulled out his wand and almost everyone in the room took different sides. The two lone Slytherins on one end and all the rest excluding Hermione, Lily, Tonks, and a nervous looking Sirius, on the other.

"Stop!" Hermione shouted. "You heard what Dumbledore said 'No fighting!'. We _have_ to get along if we want to finish this."

"Hermione's right, you guys." Tonks said.

"She usually is." Ron muttered.

And with that, that particular skirmish was settled- however the tension in the room remained thick.

"**The Dark Lord is… I believe… mistaken," Bella panted, and her eyes gleamed momentarily under her hood as she looked around to check that they were indeed alone. "In any case, we were told not to speak of the plan to anyone. This is a betrayal of the Dark Lord's —"**

"**Let go, Bella!" snarled Narcissa, and she drew a wand from beneath her cloak, holding it threateningly in the other's face. Bella merely laughed.**

"**Cissy, your own sister? You wouldn't —"**

"**There is nothing I wouldn't do anymore!" Narcissa breathed, a note of hysteria in her voice, and as she brought down the wand like a knife, there was another flash of light. Bella let go of her sister's arm as though burned.**

Sirius and Regulus shared a knowing glace with another. Narcissa was always the calm one. This was not normal behavior.

"**Narcissa!"**

**But Narcissa had rushed ahead. Rubbing her hand, her pursuer followed again, keeping her distance now, as they moved deeper into the deserted labyrinth of brick houses. At last, Narcissa hurried up a street named Spinner's End, over which the towering mill chimney seemed to hover like a giant admonitory finger. Her footsteps echoed on the cobbles as she passed boarded and broken windows, until she reached the very last house, where a dim light glimmered through the curtains in a downstairs room.**

**She had knocked on the door before Bella, cursing under her breath, had caught up. Together they stood waiting, panting slightly, breathing in the smell of the dirty river that was carried to them on the night breeze. After a few seconds, they heard movement behind the door and it opened a crack. A sliver of a man could be seen looking out at them, a man with long black hair parted in curtains around a sallow face and black eyes.**

"I wonder who it is?" James said mockingly.

Everyone ignored him.

**Narcissa threw back her hood. She was so pale that she seemed to shine in the darkness; the long blonde hair streaming down her back gave her the look of a drowned person.**

"That doesn't sound like Narcissa." Regulus said with confusion.

"Yeah," agreed Sirius, "She's pretty hot."

"Incest, my brother." he said with a smirk. Sirius gave a sly grin back and the two forgot they were in a room full of people who expected them to hate each other. Instead, they were reminded of the days before Sirius left where they joked around with each other.

"**Narcissa!" said the man, opening the door a little wider, so that the light fell upon her and her sister too. "What a pleasant surprise!**

"**Severus," she said in a strained whisper. "May I speak to you? It's urgent."**

"**But of course."**

**He stood back to allow her to pass him into the house. Her still-hooded sister followed without invitation.**

"**Snape," she said curtly as she passed him.**

"Still polite as ever."

"**Bellatrix," he replied, his thin mouth curling into a slightly mocking smile as he closed the door with a snap behind them.**

**They had stepped directly into a tiny sitting room, which had the feeling of a dark, padded cell. The walls were completely covered in books, most of them bound in old black or brown leather; a threadbare sofa, an old armchair, and a rickety table stood grouped together in a pool of dim light cast by a candle-filled lamp hung from the ceiling. The place had an air of neglect, as though it was not usually inhabited.**

"Your house sounds, erm, quite cozy." Tonks said in attempt to lighten the moon. Severus did not laugh and Tonks quickly tried to act non-chalant.

**Snape gestured Narcissa to the sofa. She threw off her cloak, cast it aside, and sat down, staring at her white and trembling hands clasped in her lap. Bellatrix lowered her hood more slowly. Dark as her sister was fair, with heavily lidded eyes and a strong jaw, she did not take her gaze from Snape as she moved to stand behind Narcissa.**

"**So, what can I do for you?" Snape asked, settling himself in the armchair opposite the two sisters.**

"**We… we are alone, aren't we?" Narcissa asked quietly.**

"**Yes, of course. Well, Wormtail's here, but we're not counting vermin, are we?"**

The Maruaders didn't know whether or not to be more angry at Snivellus for insulting their friend or Peter, being the traitor he is, who had ended up in this situation himself.

**He pointed his wand at the wall of books behind him and with a bang, a hidden door flew open, revealing a narrow staircase upon which a small man stood frozen.**

"**As you have clearly realized, Wormtail, we have guests," said Snape lazily.**

**The man crept, hunchbacked, down the last few steps and moved into the room. He had small, watery eyes, a pointed nose, and wore an unpleasant simper. His left hand was caressing his right, which looked as though it was encased in a bright silver glove.**

"**Narcissa!" he said, in a squeaky voice. "And Bellatrix! How charming —"**

"Traitor!" Sirius yelled at the book. James looked uneasy and upset.

"**Wormtail will get us drinks, if you'd like them," said Snape. "And then he will return to his bedroom."**

**Wormtail winced as though Snape had thrown something at him.**

"**I am not your servant!" he squeaked, avoiding Snape's eye.**

"**Really? I was under the impression that the Dark Lord placed you here to assist me."**

"**To assist, yes — but not to make you drinks and — and clean your house!"**

Sirius and James glared at Snape who was purposely looking away from them.

"**I had no idea, Wormtail, that you were craving more dangerous assignments," said Snape silkily. "This can be easily arranged: I shall speak to the Dark Lord —"**

"**I can speak to him myself if I want to!"**

"**Of course you can," said Snape, sneering. "But in the meantime, bring us drinks. Some of the elf-made wine will do."**

**Wormtail hesitated for a moment, looking as though he might argue, but then turned and headed through a second hidden door. They heard banging and a clinking of glasses. Within seconds he was back, bearing a dusty bottle and three glasses upon a tray. He dropped these on the rickety table and scurried from their presence, slamming the book-covered door behind him.**

**Snape poured out three glasses of bloodred wine and handed two of them to the sisters. Narcissa murmured a word of thanks, whilst Bellatrix said nothing, but continued to glower at Snape. This did not seem to discompose him; on the contrary, he looked rather amused.**

"**The Dark Lord," he said, raising his glass and draining it.**

Regulus face palmed himself. Severus was just continueing to dig himself into a deeper hole.

**The sisters copied him. Snape refilled their glasses. As Narcissa took her second drink she said in a rush, "Severus, I'm sorry to come here like this, but I had to see you. I think you are the only one who can help me —"**

**Snape held up a hand to stop her, then pointed his wand again at the concealed staircase door. There was a loud bang and a squeal, followed by the sound of Wormtail scurrying back up the stairs.**

"**My apologies," said Snape. "He has lately taken to listening at doors, I don't know what he means by it… You were saying, Narcissa?"**

**She took a great, shuddering breath and started again.**

"**Severus, I know I ought not to be here, I have been told to say nothing to anyone, but —"**

"You know it must be pretty important if she's wanting to defy the Dark Lord." Regulus said reasonably. They all agreed but Hermione couldn't help but notice something.

Didn't only the followers of Voldemort call him "The Dark Lord" instead of "You Know Who" like everyone else in the world.

She couldn't help but wonder if it was too late for him.

"**Then you ought to hold your tongue!" snarled Bellatrix. "Particularly in present company!"**

'"**Present company'?" repeated Snape sardonically. "And what am I to understand by that, Bellatrix?"**

"**That I don't trust you, Snape, as you very well know!"**

"Just like everyone else in the world." Snape muttered quietly enough so that no one would hear him.

**Narcissa let out a noise that might have been a dry sob and covered her face with her hands. Snape set his glass down upon the table and sat back again, his hands upon the arms of his chair, smiling into Bellatrix's glowering face.**

"**Narcissa, I think we ought to hear what Bellatrix is bursting to say; it will save tedious interruptions. Well, continue, Bellatrix," said Snape. "Why is it that you do not trust me?"**

Sirius seemed to have quite a few reasons ready in his mind but he saw the glance his brother shot him and for the moment bit his tounge.

**"A hundred reasons!" she said loudly, striding out from behind the sofa to slam her glass upon the table. "Where to start! Where were you when the Dark Lord fell? Why did you never make any attempt to find him when he vanished? What have you been doing all these years that you've lived in Dumbledore's pocket? Why did you stop the Dark Lord procuring the Philosopher's Stone? Why did you not return at once when the Dark Lord was reborn? Where were you a few weeks ago when we battled to retrieve the prophecy for the Dark Lord? And why, Snape, is Harry Potter still alive, when you have had him at your mercy for five years?"**

**She paused, her chest rising and falling rapidly, the color high in her cheeks. Behind her, Narcissa sat motionless, her face still hidden in her hands.**

**Snape smiled.**

Sirius shuddered at the creepy vision that sight gave him.

**"Before I answer you — oh yes, Bellatrix, I am going to answer! You can carry my words back to the others who whisper behind my back, and carry false tales of my treachery to the Dark Lord! Before I answer you, I say, let me ask a question in turn. Do you really think that the Dark Lord has not asked me each and every one of those questions? And do you really think that, had I not been able to give satisfactory answers, I would be sitting here talking to you?"**

"That's actually a good point..." Ginny said awkwardly.

Fred and George agreed sheepishly.

**She hesitated.**

"**I know he believes you, but…"**

"**You think he is mistaken? Or that I have somehow hoodwinked him? Fooled the Dark Lord, the greatest wizard, the most accomplished Legilimens the world has ever seen?"**

Sirius snorted. If there was one thing more entertaining than hearing about Snape being made a fool of, it was of Bellatrix being made a fool of.

**Bellatrix said nothing, but looked, for the first time, a little discomfited.**

Snape seemed to be smirking a little bit at the thought of that.

**Snape did not press the point. He picked up his drink again, sipped it, and continued, "You ask where I was when the Dark Lord fell. I was where he had ordered me to be, at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, because he wished me to spy upon Albus Dumbledore. You know, I presume, that it was on the Dark Lord's orders that I took up the post?"**

Harry's eyes widened as if everything was starting to make sense to him. Why else would Snape put up with the job of Potions Master. He hated children and got no joy out of teaching.

He couldn't wait to return to the future to tell Dumbledore this news!

**She nodded almost imperceptibly and then opened her mouth, but Snape forestalled her.**

"**You ask why I did not attempt to find him when he vanished. For the same reason that Avery, Yaxley, the Carrows, Greyback, **

**Lucius"— he inclined his head slightly to Narcissa — "and many others did not attempt to find him. I believed him finished. I am not proud of it, I was wrong, but there it is… If he had not forgiven we who lost faith at that time, he would have very few followers left."**

"**He'd have me!" said Bellatrix passionately. "I, who spent many years in Azkaban for him!"**

"She seems so proud of that." Ginny said dryly.

"Of course she is," George said, "Who wouldn't be passionate about being in a cell for that long?"

"**Yes, indeed, most admirable," said Snape in a bored voice. "Of I nurse, you weren't a lot of use to him in prison, but the gesture was undoubtedly fine —"**

The Marauders tried to hide their snickers. James was shocked to find himself laughing at something Snivellus said.

"**Gesture!" she shrieked; in her fury she looked slightly mad. "While I endured the dementors, you remained at Hogwarts, comfortably playing Dumbledore's pet!"**

"**Not quite," said Snape calmly. "He wouldn't give me the Defense Against the Dark Arts job, you know. Seemed to think it might, ah, bring about a relapse… tempt me into my old ways."**

"Well, Dumbledore is always right..." Sirius muttered.

"**This was your sacrifice for the Dark Lord, not to teach your favorite subject?" she jeered. "Why did you stay there all that time, Snape? Still spying on Dumbledore for a master you believed dead?"**

"**Hardly," said Snape, "although the Dark Lord is pleased that I never deserted my post: I had sixteen years of information on Dumbledore to give him when he returned, a rather more useful welcome-back present than endless reminiscences of how unpleasant Azkaban is…"**

"**But you stayed —"**

**"Yes, Bellatrix, I stayed," said Snape, betraying a hint of impatience for the first time. "I had a comfortable job that I preferred to a stint in Azkaban. They were rounding up the Death Eaters, you know. Dumbledore's protection kept me out of jail; it was most convenient and I used it. I repeat: The Dark Lord does not complain that I stayed, so I do not see why you do.**

"**I think you next wanted to know," he pressed on, a little more loudly, for Bellatrix showed every sign of interrupting, "why I stood between the Dark Lord and the Philosopher's Stone. That is easily answered. He did not know whether he could trust me. He thought, like you, that I had turned from faithful Death Eater to Dumbledore's stooge. He was in a pitiable condition, very weak, sharing the body of a mediocre wizard. He did not dare reveal himself to a former ally if that ally might turn him over to Dumbledore or the Ministry. I deeply regret that he did not trust me. He would have returned to power three years sooner. As it was, I saw only greedy and unworthy Quirrell attempting to steal the stone and, I admit, I did all I could to thwart him."**

The golden trio's eyes widenened as everything from their first year began making sense. Harry couldn't believe the proof he was getting out of this book! He was right all along, Snape was the greasy git everyone thought he was!

**Bellatrix's mouth twisted as though she had taken an unpleasant dose of medicine.**

"**But you didn't return when he came back, you didn't fly back to him at once when you felt the Dark Mark burn —"**

"**Correct. I returned two hours later. I returned on Dumbledore's orders."**

"**On Dumbledore's —?" she began, in tones of outrage.**

"**Think!" said Snape, impatient again. "Think! By waiting two hours, just two hours, I ensured that I could remain at Hogwarts as a spy! By allowing Dumbledore to think that I was only returning to the Dark Lord's side because I was ordered to, I have been able to pass information on Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix ever since! Consider, Bellatrix: The Dark Mark had been growing stronger for months. I knew he must be about to return, all the Death Eaters knew! I had plenty of time to think about what I wanted to do, to plan my next move, to escape like Karkaroff, didn't I?**

Sirius seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Harry at this point. But he didn't dare speak his thoughts, or his brother would end up killing him.

**"The Dark Lord's initial displeasure at my lateness vanished entirely, I assure you, when I explained that I remained faithful, although Dumbledore thought I was his man. Yes, the Dark Lord thought that I had left him forever, but he was wrong."**

Snape glanced around sheepishly as glares began to hit him. Even Lily was looking at him with cold eyes.

"**But what use have you been?" sneered Bellatrix. "What useful information have we had from you?"**

"**My information has been conveyed directly to the Dark Lord," said Snape. "If he chooses not to share it with you —"**

"**He shares everything with me!" said Bellatrix, firing up at once. "He calls me his most loyal, his most faithful —"**

"So, let me get this straight," Fred started, "She gets pleausure out of being called a slave?"

Regulus shrugged his shoulders.

"Doesn't surprise me."

Fred and George looked at each other and snorted with laughter. "Alright. So we know one thing for sure. Not only is she a bitch, but she's a _psycho _bitch."

At that everyone started cracking up (Except Snape). Hermione smiled at the two twins. She supposed it was good they snuck their way into the past; they made the situation lighter than it could have been.

"**Does he?" said Snape, his voice delicately inflected to suggest his disbelief. "Does he still, after the fiasco at the Ministry?"**

Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny all pointedly glanced away form each other.

"**That was not my fault!" said Bellatrix, flushing. "The Dark Lord has, in the past, entrusted me with his most precious — if Lucius hadn't —"**

"**Don't you dare — don't you dare blame my husband!" said Narcissa, in a low and deadly voice, looking up at her sister.**

Sirius still looked dissapointed she ended up with Malfoy.

"**There is no point portioning blame," said Snape smoothly. "What is done, is done."**

"**But not by you!" said Bellatrix furiously. "No, you were once again absent while the rest of us ran dangers, were you not, Snape?"**

"**My orders were to remain behind," said Snape. "Perhaps you disagree with the Dark Lord, perhaps you think that Dumbledore would not have noticed if I had joined forces with the Death Eaters to fight the Order of the Phoenix? And — forgive me — you speak of dangers… you were facing six teenagers, were you not?"**

"They must have been some pretty powerful teens." Lily said.

Tonks grinned at her and said "Well, you're looking at four of them."

"How the _hell_ did you manange that?" All three Marauders present asked in awe.

"**They were joined, as you very well know, by half of the Order before long!" snarled Bellatrix. "And, while we are on the subject of the Order, you still claim you cannot reveal the whereabouts of their headquarters, don't you?"**

"**I am not the Secret-Keeper; I cannot speak the name of the place. You understand how the enchantment works, I think? The Dark Lord is satisfied with the information I have passed him on the Order. It led, as perhaps you have guessed, to the recent capture and murder of Emmeline Vance, and it certainly helped dispose of Sirius Black, though I give you full credit for finishing him off."**

Sirius jumped up angrily at Snape. He pulled out his wand and shot a disfiguation charm at him.

His already large nose grew even larger and his hair became longer, wrapping itself around the limbs of his body.

Hermione stood up, looking livid, and grabbed the wand out of the Sirius' hand while Lily fixed Snape up.

"Dumbledore said _no _fighting." Hermione said while she threw his wand over to Lupin.

As if called into the room, Dumbledore entered and said "I'm afraid I'll have to take the book away for today. You can all start again tomorow." And then he left.

Sirius stalked over to Lupin and James and pulled them up by their collars.

"We're going for a fly." he yelled out to no one in particular.

"Sirius, wait!" Regulus called after him and grabbed his arm.

His brother shook him off him and said "Get away from me, you death eater."

Regulus looked shocked and then turned rapidly angry.

"Come on, Severus." He said.

They watched them walk out of the room and slam the door. Not a sound was made and Fred and George didn't even have a comment to lighten the situation.

* * *

Reviews please!


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